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  <h1>About Carolinas RCOOS</h1>
  
  <h2>General Premise</h2>
  
  <p>The over-arching objective of this project is to integrate and enhance existing assets and observations in the
NC and SC coastal region to create an end-to-end prototype regional coastal ocean observing system
(RCOOS).</p>

	<p>Carolinas RCOOS fully integrates two existing sub-regional programs within SECOORA, the Carolinas Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction System (<a href="http://www.carocoops.org/">Caro-COOPS</a>) and the Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (<a href="http://www.cormp.org/">CORMP</a>).  These programs comprised multiple facets of an end-to-end system including: deployment and maintenance of observing systems, data management/analyses, model development, and outreach and partnership activities. The transition to Carolinas RCOOS will sustain existing infrastructure that supports current valuable applications such as the <a href="http://www.weather.gov/carolinascoast/">NWS Carolinas Coast marine portal</a>. Expansion of present efforts will include additional partners and provides a cost effective increase in observational capabilities, coupling of physical and environmental data for application development, and information for model validation and benchmarking, while taking a rivers-to-sea approach.  Further, Carolinas RCOOS will fill a critical NOAA/NWS need for observational data to forecast winds and waves in near-shore waters and sounds.</p>
	
  <h2>Partners and Collaborators</h2>
  
  <p>This effort incorporates observational data collected by a wide spectrum of Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (<a href="http://www.secoora.org/">SECOORA</a>) members and state and federal agencies including: <a href="http://www.carocoops.org/">Caro-COOPS</a>, <a href="http://www.cormp.org/">CORMP</a>, US Army Corps of Engineers <a href="http://www.saw.usace.army.mil/">Wilmington office<a/> and USACE FRF at Duck NC (<a href="http://www.frf.usace.army.mil/">USACE FRF</a>), NOAA's National Weather Service (<a href="http://www.nws.noaa.gov/">NWS</a>), National Data Buoy Center (<a href="http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/">NDBC</a>), and National Estuarine Research Reserve System (<a href="http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/">NERRS</a>), the Lower Cape Fear River Program (<a href="http://www.uncwil.edu/cmsr/aquaticecology/LCFRP/">LCFRP</a>), state agencies [e.g. SC Department of Natural Resources (<a href="http://www.dnr.sc.gov/">SCDNR</a>) and Department of Health & Environmental Control (<a href="http://www.scdhec.net/">SCDHEC</a>)] and <a href="http://downeastinst.com/">Down-East Instrumentation LLC</a>.</p>
  
  <h2>Goals</h2>
  
  <ol>
  	<li>full integration of two existing "end-to-end" sub-regional programs within <a href="http://www.secoora.org/">SECOORA</a></li>
  	<li>continued support of existing and successful <a href="http://www.secoora.org/">SECOORA</a> applications (e.g. <a href="http://www.weather.gov/carolinascoast/">Carolinas Coast</a>)</li>
  	<li>development of new products that address regional and national priorities</li>
  	<li>direct involvement by state, federal, and industry partners</li>
  </ol>
  
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